Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to network gaming and more particularly to detecting lag switch cheating in a network game.
Description of Related Art
Conventionally, users of electronic games compete with one another by selecting a two-player option associated with a particular electronic game via a single home gaming console. Accordingly, two players can play at the same time or one-at-a-time in order to compete for points or other awards associated with the particular electronic game.
As electronic game consoles have become more popular and network technologies have become more pervasive, more options for head-to-head competition have become available. Some electronic game consoles are equipped with modems or other network connectors for allowing users to communicate over a network through the exchange of data related to the game. By communicating over a network, users can connect to various other users' gaming consoles either directly or via intermediate computing nodes (e.g., a central server or other game consoles in a network) and compete against those various other users while playing a network game.
Disadvantageously, some users manipulate the network game in order to gain unfair advantages while competing with other users playing the same network game. For example, a user may delay the rate at which the user's data is sent to other users so that the various other users do not receive the user's data in time to react appropriately. Unscrupulous game players may introduce this delay in transmission of game play data through a lag switch.
Adding latency to the network through a lag switch has the effect of making the cheater's online game character appear to be at an old location (or invisible). In reality, the cheater may have positioned his online game character near an opponent. The cheater—now being strategically positioned—may kill his opponent and/or subsequently enable the normal flow of network traffic and continue with unabated game play.
Utilizing lag switch cheating is especially problematic in networked ‘community’ game-play. Pervasive cheating in a gaming community decreases user enjoyment of participating in a networked community game environment. For example, a particular user playing a network game without any illicit outside aides such as a lag switch is at a distinct disadvantage versus a user who is making use of such illicit aides. The user who is not cheating may be overpowered, outgunned, or otherwise inferior in some respect to a user who is cheating regardless of the individual skills of those users. If the user who does not cheat is continually defeated by a user who does cheat—and often in quick and decisive fashion—the non-cheating user may lose interest in a particular game, a particular game network, or a particular product or service provider.
This loss of interest adversely affects game developers and network service providers who will sell fewer game titles or find fewer users utilizing their network game services, respectively. As such, there is an inherent interest for game developers, service providers, and honest game users to identify and eliminate cheating in a network or community game environment.